In American Jewish culture, there are two major non-religious rites of passage: sleepaway camp and Birthright.
And I don’t think I’m out of line to assert that both of these formative experiences have weirdly horny connotations associated with them.
Even in college, summer camp remains a staple of introductory small talk between Jewish students: questions like “what are your pronouns?” and “what’s your major?” are often shortly followed by “what camp did you go to?” and a mandatory discussion of Jewish geography.
But while many gentiles can probably relate to the experience of having your first kiss at summer camp or waiting all year to be reunited with your camp friends, I’m not sure I can say the same for typical Birthright experiences.
For instance, I haven’t heard of a lot of goyim “hooking up with [an Israeli] soldier and potentially getting his infantry t-shirt,” which is apparently one of the “The 15 Things That Really Happen on Birthright,” according to a March 3, 2014 Cosmopolitan column.
Founded in 1999, Birthright Israel is a free 10-day trip to Israel open to diasporic Jews between the ages of 18 and 26, according to Taglit-Birthright Israel.
One of the main missions of these trips is to indoctrinate and foster a sense of connection for the state of Israel amongst young diaspora Jews, according to the Birthright Israel Foundation.
One way this “connection” is achieved is through the “Mifgash,” or “encounter” in Hebrew, where Birthright participants meet their Israeli counterparts, including active-duty soldiers, according to an April 10, 2020 Birthright Israel Foundation Blog post.
Sexual “mifgashim” between American women and Israeli soldiers is one of the most notorious and enduring expectations of Birthright trips, according to an April 18, 2018 Jewish Currents article.
Romance and hookups have become an unofficial selling point of the trips.
“Without question the best part of being Jewish is the free sex vacation to Israel,” stated former VICE content writer Rose Surnow in a May 8, 2012 column.
The perpetuation of this kind of rhetoric can lead to an atmosphere that can quickly turn unsafe. In the throes of the #MeToo movement, Jewish Currents interviewed 50 Birthright alumni revealing stories previously unheard from survivors of sexual harassment on Birthright.
One survivor of sexual assault by an Israeli soldier described experiencing guilt and suicidality the day after, according to the Jewish Currents article. When her cohort visited the Western Wall—a holy site where Jews pray and place notes with written prayer or wishes—hers simply read: “I’m sorry.”
Participants are faced with constant sexual pressure which deters sexual assault survivors from coming forward, according to the same April 18, 2018 Jewish Currents article.
Over the past couple decades, Birthright has been recognized for its role in combating intermarriage as a modern, secular shadchan—a Jewish matchmaker.
And the data backs it up: a 2020 Pew Research Center survey found that Birthright alumni are 160% more likely to have a Jewish spouse than non-participants, according to a Nov. 18, 2022 Jewish News Syndicate article.
Birthright co-founder and billionaire philanthropist Michael Steinhardt has openly endorsed the procreative end-goal of these trips as an intentional part of the program’s design, according to a June 15, 2011 article in The Nation.
Former director of the Anti-Defamation League, Abraham Foxman, admitted that Steinhardt’s “passion” for Jewish matchmaking was no secret, and that some might describe it as an “obsession” or even a “perversion,” according to a March 21, 2019 Jewish Telegraphic Agency article.
Steinhardt was even known to frequently bribe young men and women $100 to talk to each other, according to an April 5, 2019 Jerusalem Post article.
So, with that in mind, it might not come as a surprise that this creepy behavior bled into other aspects of Steinhardt’s interactions.
At least seven women have publicly come forward to share their experiences with Steinhardt in which he made inappropriate sexual requests and comments, according to a March 21, 2019 article in the New York Times.
Their stories are indicative of a continued pattern of sexual harassment previously overlooked by Jewish institutions in favor of securing donations from the billionaire philanthropist, according to the same article.
The increased public scrutiny of the perpetuation of sexual misconduct has since led Taglit-Birthright and other major Jewish institutions to pivot from Jewish natalism toward a more inclusive emphasis on education and community, according to the April 5, 2019 Jerusalem post article.
Birthright claims to have also increased focus on sexual harassment prevention through changes in protocol and trainings, according to the 2018 Jewish Currents article.
In my research for this column, I struggled to find post-2019 sources regarding the prevalence of Birthright hookup culture.
While casual discussion of hormonal mifgashim and Jewish matchmaking might have become taboo in the wake of the #MeToo movement, I can’t say the radio silence has convinced me that these issues have just disappeared.
Despite Israel’s continued assault on Gaza and ongoing wider regional war, Birthright trips are still being run as usual.
Our very own UVM Hillel is offering three trips to Israel this year, and while only one of them is sponsored by Taglit-Birthright, the goal of all these trips is the same: to increase dedication and loyalty to the Israeli state.
The sexual pressure and branding of Taglit-Birthright might feel out of place juxtaposed with conversations of colonialism and occupation, but it is just another arm of the mission to promote Jewish nationalism.
